My 18 year-old self would recoil in disgust at what I'm about to say, but it has to be done....there are only so many pictures of Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick and the rest of the Factory crowd that one woman can take. Fortunately, Nat Finkelstein, 'photojournalist, political activist and veteran of the 1960s New York scene' created a diverse body of work including images of Marcel Duchamp, the Velvet Underground (OK, so they were part of the Factory scene but I'm not bored with them, yet) and the civil rights protests of the 1960s.
Until this weekend's gallery visit, That's Not My Age wasn't that familiar with Finkelstein's work, but here's what I know now; he was born in Brooklyn in 1933 (died October 2009), worked under the legendary Harper's Bazaar art director, Alexey Brodovitch, was good for a quote, as in, 'I watched pop die, I saw punk being born,' and although he stayed at the Factory for almost two years, he didn't do drugs. Now that is impressive. So, I swerved some of the Edie pics, but stopped to check out the photos of Warhol meeting Bob Dylan, 'It was like the Dalai Lama and the Pope in a holier-than-thou contest,' said Finkelstein.
Don't you love the photo of John Cale in his black polo neck, diamanté chandelier earrings and rope necklace?
And the glamorous lady in the zebra shift dress with Duchamp? Anyone know who she is?
(Sadly, neither are in the exhibition, they're taken from Finkelstein's website)
Nat Finkelstein: From one extreme to the other is on at Ideas Generation Gallery until February 14.
All photos from www.natfinkelstein.com